Turnover
by Verily-Snuffles
Summary: Sakura, left in the hands of a distant relative that doesn't want her, is continuously bullied, until she meets a certain boy.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Ayumi

Sakura shoved her books into her bag, pushing back her glasses then swinging the bag onto her shoulder. Sakura grabbed a hair tie and quickly knotted her hair into a bun, letting two streaks loose, to cover her face.

She snuck to the front door, going outside, silencing the door with the best of her ability, and set off in the risen sun.

When she was three, Sakura's mother passed away from illness, and four years later, her father followed suite. Her brother Touya was studying in England on a scholarship, two years before it happened. Sakura's father hadn't planned what would happen to Sakura if this should happen, so she was automatically sent to her father's cousin-in-law. Of course, her uncle wasn't very pleased at having a child to raise, for he had none and had wanted none, and he treated her with great contempt. His wife – who married him for exactly the same reason – took pleasure in spending his money.

Sakura didn't have the best time at what she had to call 'home', and spent as much time away from there as she could, without them getting suspicious. That meant leaving a bit earlier for school, and coming home after studying in the library until it closed (at 6.30pm).

When Sakura finally reached the school gates – she was walking quite slowly – she hesitated before entering, heading quickly to her locker with her head down. She unlocked her locker, opening it just to have it slammed closed again.

'My my, what do we have _here_?' asked a snooty, (fake) blonde popular-looking girl. 'Why it's the little greasy geek, Sake-chan!' (AN: The nickname coming from sake, rice wine, making fun of her name, 'Sakura' or, 'Sakura-chan'. Also refers to uncle's drinking habits.)

Sakura was standing there, looking straight down, not wanting to get into more trouble by looking up. This girl, "Kanagawa Ayumi", wasn't by herself very strong or menacing, but her gang of duplicates, as a group, were. (AN: The kanji for Kanagawa mean 'gold' and 'river'. Guess why I chose the name )

'Well, I came pre_pared_ today,' Ayumi giggled evilly, taking out a pair of scissors. As she approached Sakura, she said, 'well, we'll let you keep those _dreadful_ locks, so's to hide your face. Oh here, let me help you, you seem to have your hair caught,' she grabbed Sakura's bun, pulling on the hair tie and snipping it, letting Sakura's lank hair loose.

Sneering, she continued, 'Well, you won't be needing _this_,' she said coolly, flicking the remains of her hair tie into a nearby bin. 'C'mon, girls,' she ordered as she and her clones strutted off down the hallway.

Sakura held back the tears, opening her locker again, retrieving the books she'd need and putting her bag away. It was against the school rules to have her hair out, and she knew she'd get in trouble for having her hair out, but she was out of hair ties since the last time Ayumi did that. She sighed sadly, preparing for a big shouting as she slid open the door, but the teacher wasn't there, so she went to the back corner and took a seat. The bell rang for the second time. She must have been too preoccupied to hear the first one.

She sighed, pulling her legs up, arms in her lap, shins resting on the table. Sakura looked like the average loser: she had grubby, messy hair; big, thick glasses; cheap, falling apart clothes and shoes that slightly resembled a pile of shredded paper.

She flinched as the bell signalling lunch went off. She hurriedly left the room to seek refuge in the tree she spent recess in – which was located behind the water sports shed – only to see it surrounded by Ayumi and her gang.

'It seems the lady of the hour has arrived,' she said snidely, 'we were so _worried_ at recess, we couldn't find you _anywhere_!' She said in a baby-like voice.

Sakura slowly backed away, but hit a brick wall and had a jolt of nerves flow through her. Ayumi snapped her fingers and the clones spread out, slowly stepping in until they were in a tight semi-circle around Sakura.

Ayumi walked in, leaning towards Sakura with a sneer, 'Those eyes of yours aren't like you at _all_,' she pulled her fist up, 'let me fix them for you.'

Sakura closed her eyes as Ayumi's fist closed in...


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Syaoran

_Ayumi walked in, leaning towards Sakura with a sneer, 'Those eyes of yours aren't like you at_ all_,' she pulled her fist up, 'let me fix them for you.'_

_Sakura closed her eyes as Ayumi's fist closed in._

She was sweating, waiting for the impact...which never happened. Her fist was in the hand of a brown-haired stranger, facing away from Sakura.

'Who the fuck are _you_!?' Ayumi screeched.

'Who are _you_?' the figure questioned coolly, 'you're certainly no friend of her's,' he added.

'Well what do you want? You don't even _know_ her,' Ayumi said quickly, wanting to get back to what she was doing.

'I know enough to stop you beating her up,' he growled, mouth forming a sneer.

Ayumi, clearly not wanting to get beat up by a guy about a foot taller than her, backed off, pouting like a spoilt child who's source of entertainment disappeared.

'Well, at least she has _some_ brains,' he said once she had left, turning to look at Sakura with his chocolaty eyes.

Sakura, who had been holding her breath, finally let it loose, and blushed at being saved by a cute guy she'd never seen before.

'Are you all right?' he asked her, concerned.

'Y-yeah, she's g-gone now...' Sakura stuttered.

'Has this happened before?' he questioned.

Sakura looked away, ashamed.

'Shit. Well, she's not about to give up,' he scowled, 'what's your name, anyway?'

'S-Sakura...' She stuttered, still slightly nervous, 'w-what's your's?'

He grinned, slightly, 'Syaoran, at your service,' he completed with a bow, making her blush and giggle slightly.

'So, are you new?' she asked as they walked and sat on a bench.

'Yeah, fairly. Wanna show me around?' he asked jokingly.

'Are you sure you'd want to be seen hanging out with _me_?' she asked quietly.

'What's wrong with being seen with you?'

'Um... I'm not exactly popular,' she reasoned, 'at all. I'm kind of anti-popular, actually.'

He rolled his eyes, 'like I care. Anyone that gives you a hard time about it'll answer to me!' he exclaimed.

She laughed, her mood lightening.

Sakura went back to class, already missing Syaoran, her new friend.

She sat daydreaming through maths, which she was already failing, so she couldn't get worse.

As the bell rang, she automatically pulled her bag on and stepped out of the classroom, and was instantly noticed by Ayumi and her gang, who began to approach then stopped, walking in the opposite direction. Sakura let out the breath she was subconsciously holding, and looked for the reason for the strange behaviour.

Syaoran walked up to her, 'looks like I'll have to come straight to your classroom every break,' he gestured to the giggling group far away.

'Sorry,' she said quietly.

'Don't be sorry,' he insisted, 'Are you free tonight?' he asked, then answering to her expression, 'no, no, it's not a date, it's more of a... meet up.'

Reassured, Sakura nodded, asking if it was a sleep over.

'Yeah, do you need to tell parents or something?' He noticed her flinch at the word.

'Not parents. But yeah, something like that... Where is this 'meet up'?'

At the answer, she looked thoughtful.

'It's not _too_ far from my house.' She explained the whereabouts.

'Oh, right, I'll come with you,' he added, 'as long as you don't mind?'

'Yeah, its fine, come,' she said, 'you're good at warding off "bad spirits".'

He grinned, and they set off for her house.


End file.
